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Boeing noses out competition for 35B tanker

congrats to all my Washington friends who may or may not be affected by Boeing beating out the Alabama based EADS group for the Air Force 35 billion dollar air tanker project...dont know if politics played into the equation and decision

Along with a contract for the Navy's new unmanned bomber from Northrop Grumman, http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/0...-says-020511w/ one has to wonder, in light of our current budget situation, how many of these planes will actually get into the air.
At 558+ M per plane for the tanker at the full contract pricing, I hope that the folks in Kansas & Washington don't go hog wild buying new cars and such. I was part of the crew that helped develop the B-2 and had first hand experience with the budget cuts on that program.
I'm not arguing with the need to keep our inventory up to date (The planes will replace tankers designed/built during the Eisenhower era., the KC135's. The last KC-135 was delivered to the Air Force in 1965. Note:also built by Boeing ) but we do have some hard choices ahead.
These planes may be made by an American owned company putting Americans to work, BUT if we have to borrow more money (from China ?!?) to do it, is it really worth it?

"It's not that government is inherently stupid, although that's a debatable question."
Rand Paul CPAC speech 2011

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it. Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Stuart, 1791
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Along with a contract for the Navy's new unmanned bomber from Northrop Grumman, http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/0...-says-020511w/ one has to wonder, in light of our current budget situation, how many of these planes will actually get into the air.
At 558+ M per plane for the tanker at the full contract pricing, I hope that the folks in Kansas & Washington don't go hog wild buying new cars and such. I was part of the crew that helped develop the B-2 and had first hand experience with the budget cuts on that program.
I'm not arguing with the need to keep our inventory up to date (The planes will replace tankers designed/built during the Eisenhower era., the KC135's. The last KC-135 was delivered to the Air Force in 1965. Note:also built by Boeing ) but we do have some hard choices ahead.
These planes may be made by an American owned company putting Americans to work, BUT if we have to borrow more money (from China ?!?) to do it, is it really worth it?

There were also a lot of tankers built based on the 707 airframe. & of somewhat more recent vintage, 1980ish.

Originally Posted by Granddaddy

We all know politics played "the" role in that decision.

Don't you find it interesting that a 200 mil off the shelf airframe will be turned into a 558 mil upgrade? From experience I know the government to be hard to work with, but that's quite a markup!!!!!!

There were also a lot of tankers built based on the 707 airframe. & of somewhat more recent vintage, 1980ish.

Don't you find it interesting that a 200 mil off the shelf airframe will be turned into a 558 mil upgrade? From experience I know the government to be hard to work with, but that's quite a markup!!!!!!

That is a small markup campared to daily ones I used to see while doing that kind of work. .10 part sold to one of big 3 for .25, sold to government for 35.75.

My Father,My Friend,My teacher,and now My Angel~ 04/21/1956-03/21/2011 You will always be missed. I hope to learn half of the stuff you knew.

As a point of order....the 135 is not built on the 707 airframe. The 135 and the 707 were each variants based on what is called the "Dash80" airframe. The Dash80 was a jet transport "proof of concept." The 135 is narrower and shorter....and has outlasted the 707.

It will be very interesting to watch the defense of the Boeing contract. The EADS aircraft is flying today and is larger and hauls more gas (the whole point of the exercise) that the Boeing offering. Both the EADS and the Boeing will be built equally in the US. Boeing has tried to hush this but the wings for their airframe will be built in China if I'm not mistaken.

Airbus parent company EADS recently announced its choice of a site in Alabama to build a new refuelling plane for the US military, as part of its bid to win the USAF’s $23.5 billion contract to supply the next generation of air-air refuelling aircraft. EADS said the Brookley Industrial Complex in Mobile, AL had beaten off competition from Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina as part of a very competitive process to host the “KC-330 Advanced Tanker” production facility, which would hire up to 1,100 personnel if EADS should win against Boeing’s KC-767. The A330 was selected as Britain’s next-generation tanker aircraft, for instance, in an innovative leasing arrangement that echoes some aspects of the cancelled Boeing KC-767 deal.

"For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required." -- Luke 12:48